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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
3.5-4ish stars. Not my favorite, but still good. I will read all of Okorafor's writing.
Very cool. Dune meets Afrofuturism with a kick ass mc and in a short form. Okorafor was able to do a lot in a short time and I really enjoyed the setting, the characters, and the story. I also appreciated the commentary on the danger of mega-corporations.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book felt a bit like I was reading book 2 and skipped book 1. Loved the characters and the world, but it was a little confusing at times.
I really enjoyed the Binti series, which is what lead me to pick up Noor, and I honestly enjoyed Noor even more.
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover. I thought this is gonna be super interesting. Afrofuturism sci-fi. But 25% through the book I couldn’t tell what the main plot was. Was it about AO and her cybernetics? Was it about herdsman terrorists? I couldn’t get invested in either character so I was lost on the plot.
3.5 rounded down. While I continue to love the worlds she creates, the story was more disjointed than I expect of Nnedi and the evil corporate menace was heavy handed.
I find Nnedi Okorafor to be an author who delights and frustrates me in approximately equal measure. Her abilities as a writer cannot be gainsaid but, as I have said in other reviews of her work, I find the finished work a bit slapdash, with disconnected phrases and ideas hanging out like the frayed edges of an otherwise spotless gown. I also wonder if it is not a disservice to call these books of hers science fiction; she herself calls this genre Africanfuturism, and perhaps it would be useful to mute expectations if this label were adopted. Her world-building doesn't really hold together scientifically; my sci-fi jones for an explanation of how things work was rarely satisfied here.
I readily acknowledge that I may be (probably am) missing the point. Okorafor did not set out to build a realistic version of post-apocalyptic Nigeria as much as she (or so it seems to me) wished to paint an allegory to which she could pin her commentary on the failures of human society, in particular that of large corporations. Still, it strikes me that the latter would have been far more effective had the former been more convincing. To take just one example, when this book is held up against NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, one can see how effective the combination of skillful world-building and deeply felt explication of the horrors of our human world can be. I would love to see what this author could do if she spent a bit more time and energy on what she gives to the world.
I readily acknowledge that I may be (probably am) missing the point. Okorafor did not set out to build a realistic version of post-apocalyptic Nigeria as much as she (or so it seems to me) wished to paint an allegory to which she could pin her commentary on the failures of human society, in particular that of large corporations. Still, it strikes me that the latter would have been far more effective had the former been more convincing. To take just one example, when this book is held up against NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, one can see how effective the combination of skillful world-building and deeply felt explication of the horrors of our human world can be. I would love to see what this author could do if she spent a bit more time and energy on what she gives to the world.